I took up the Book of the Dead. Reading where it opened.
Who underlined these words, starred these strange passages?
I can’t remember my hand, or my eyes, straying here.
When was this? What did I want to say to myself?“Know that the blood-drinking deities are meditational deities;greet them as old friends, trust them and dissolve.”

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Picture: Assyrian protective spirits, guarding against evil from any direction. British Museum.